A question that weighs on the minds of many is that of the difference between reading a story and watching a visual presentation of the same story. Anyone who reads a book before watching the movie version of that book will offer their strong opinion about which version was “better.”
In a charmingly transparent manner, Richard B. Wright draws his readers into life as a novelist in his memoir A Life with Words. With great artistic skill, He lays out the challenges and triumphs that come with attempting to make a living with writing. Readers are encouraged to enjoy a story for what it is; to feel a sense of companionship with the ones who sacrificially offer their dreams and visions to the world through the art of writing.
Wright offers his perspective on the importance of literary reading, a pastime that has all but vanished in a society of ever increasing visual stimulation. We are being entertained by countless moving pictures, forced to conclusions about the details of characters and scenes, which are skillfully presented by visual artists and set designers.
However, as is encouraged in this short memoir, literature still offers the subtle invitation to be drawn in by a story. Reading brings ideas to life through the colliding imaginations of author and reader, as we meet in the middle to form pictures in our minds not like any other can envision.
William Knelsen 
Leave a Reply